The Gilliam Blog - All the Blog While Its Blog

Back in 1905, a young man named Claud Hatcher developed a line of sodas that his family could sell in their Columbus, Georgia grocery. A pharmacist - just like his predecessors who invented Coca-Cola and Pepsi - Hatcher found immediate success with his line of colas and sodas with his company that he named the Chero-Cola Company (later renamed Royal Crown Cola). One day, Hatcher overheard a route salesman talking about a competitor's tall bottle as being "knee-high". The phrase fell on the receptive mind of Hatcher and the popular brand of flavored soft drinks Nehi was born . . . . . But that's not the end of the story! Hatcher continued his success with the Royal Crown/Nehi line of soft drinks until his death in 1933. One of Hatcher's greatest interests was the education of deserving young people. His will established an educational fund in memory of his good friend and business associate Devitt Pickett. And thus the Pickett and Hatcher Educational fund was started in 1938 to finance the college educations of thousands students, including a budding CPA named Scott Gilliam and his brother Mike, who needed nine Spring Breaks to achieve his career path. . . . . . . And now you know . . . the rest of the story